Not In-Service Railway Arched Bridges and Their Future/ Nieużytkowane Kolejowe Mosty Sklepione I Ich Przyszłość

Abstract At the turn of the 19th and 20th century, on the areas of today northern and western Poland, the railway infrastructure was developing rapidly. In the late 80’s of the previous century many of the railway lines, together with the whole infrastructure including bridges, were being closed down. The example of such practices can be the brick bridge located near Nojewo, Voivodeship wielkopolskie. This article presents the technical parameters of these bridges and their damages as well as ideas for the future development of the railway facilities. Streszczenie Na przełomie XIX i XX wieku na terenie dzisiejszej Polski zachodniej i północnej bardzo intensywnie rozwijana była infrastruktura kolejowa. W efekcie tych działań powstała sieć dróg żelaznych o dużym zagęszczeniu. Pod koniec lat 80-tych ubiegłego stulecia wiele z tych linii było stopniowo zamykanych. Na skutek tych przemian wiele linii oraz obiektów z nimi związanych, w tym obiekty mostowe, zostały pozostawione niekorzystnemu działaniu czasu. Przykładem takich wyłączonych z eksploatacji obiektów są mosty i wiadukty położone w okolicy miejscowości Nojewo. Wspomniane obiekty inżynierskie to ceglane konstrukcje sklepione znajdujące się w ciągu linii kolejowej nr 368 łączącej Szamotuły i Międzychód. W artykule zaprezentowano problem rewitalizacji nieużytkowanych mostów kolejowych na przykładzie obiektów w miejscowości Nojewo w województwie wielkopolskim. Opisano podstawowe parametry techniczne mostów oraz ich uszkodzenia. Przedstawiono propozycje zagospodarowania obiektów.


INTRODUCTION
At the turn of nineteenth and twentieth centuries in what is now western and northern Poland, railway infrastructure was intensily developed .As a result of these actions a network of roads was created with a high concentration of iron.At the end of the 80s of the last century, many of these lines were gradually closed, originally for passenger traffic, with time also for freight runs.As a result of these changes many lines and related facilities, including bridges, have been left to adverse influences of time.Examples of such excluded from the operation objects are bridges and viaducts located near the village of Nojewo over the railway line No. 368 connecting Szamotuły and Międzychód.These engineering objects are brick vaulted structures, built at the beginning of the last century and put into service in 1908 [7].After nearly 90 years of exploitation, the movement of trains was suspended in 2001.Since then, the entire infrastructure of the railway line has been gradually degraded.

LOCALISATION
Nojewo is located in the municipality of Pniewy, in the district of Szamotuły belonging to the Wielkopolska region.The village is situated on the attractive tourist area with various shape, on the border of Sierakowski Landscape Park and the area of Natura 2000 -Notecka Wilderness.Nojewo is on the 21.429 km of single-track,non-electric railway line No. 368, connection Szamotuły -Międzychód.These bridges were determined by contractual letters A, B, C and D in the direction from Szamotuły to Miedzychód, as shown along with the course of the railway line on the orientation map (Fig. 1).

DESCRIPTION OF BRIDGES IN NOJEWO
As already mentioned in point.2, there are four railway bridges of arched structure in Nojewie.The distance between the extreme viaducts A and D is approx.1200 m.Among the objects A and B are the buildings of the former railway station.Table 1 summarizes the main characteristics of the bridges on the basis of the made inventory.All arched bridges were made of full ceramic brick.The object marked with A is a viaduct, it composes of four arched spans up to approx.8 m each (Fig. 2).
Under the second span is a dirt road and under the third runs a small stream.The object marked B consists of three arched spans (fig.3), whose basic dimensions were shown on the side view and a cross-sectional span (Fig. 4).Under the middle arch runs a paved road.Object C, the highest of the described, is a bridge composed of three arched spans (Fig. 4).A few years ago, under the middle span flowed the small-sized watercourse -Oszczynica.Because on the west side one made the damming the stream, now the space between the pillars is completely filled with standing water.Due to the presence of water under the object and marshy areas on both sides of the bridge access is difficult.The object D is a one-span viaduct, the smallest of the described (Fig. 5).Under the object runs westwards the local paved road from to the village of Nojewa to Kikowo.On both sides of the bridge, parallel to the road, on the length of more than 8 m, there are retaining walls restricting the ground scarps.In the early 60's building was undergoing a complete renovation during which fragments of vaultings, clinker bricks on the edges of the arches were renewed and one made a reinforced concrete bridging slab with a thickness of approx.25 cm.Identical decorating occur on the unused by the rail, but renovated, viaduct in Łagów Lubuski.And since the construction period of the Łagów viaduct was similar, it can be assumed that in Łagów and Nojewo bridge projects came from the hand of the same constructor or ornaments type were in the canon of typical solutions.

CURRENT TECHNICAL CONDITION OF BRIDGES
Railway line No. 368 ceased to be in operation over 13 years ago, by which engineering objects present in the string, ceased to be subject to mandatory inspections of the technical condition.One ceased to carry out repairs and maintenance work related to the current maintenance of the entire infrastructure.In spite of this, as shown by a detailed examination of these objects carried out in autumn 2014, their overall condition, especially in terms of construction could be considered satisfactory, taking into consideration both the age of the structure, as well as life span and the elapsed time from the decommissioning of the railway.However, the described bridges and viaducts have visible and at the same time typical damages for unmaintained wall structures.The most obvious are, present in many places, white efflorescence on the surface of the walls.This applies particularly to the objects A and B. Efflorescence is always the result of water penetration, usually derived from the ground, adjoined to the structures .For these objects, most stains and associated efflorescence start at the top of the structure, often from the same crown (Fig. 6).Tracks are in fact covered with a thick layer of rich greenery-clad soil, which is rich reservoir of water.One can also notice a visible numerous defects on large surfaces, flaking and cracking of the outer layer of bricks.This phenomenon occurs especially in the upper part of the arches (key) and on the walls and pillars.The cause of the destruction of the bricks are frost damages and disintegrating action of crystalized salt.On one of the pillars of object B, on the west side, detachment was found from the outside section of the wall of a depth of two bricks (Fig. 7).The lack of proper protection of this section of the wall can cause landslide on the extending road there.

FUTURE OF OBJECTS
Currently, PKP Polish Railway Lines Inc. began the process of liquidation of this line, which is unlikely to be a return to the original function of the railway.In Poland in recent years, many objects of communication have undergone revitalization [eg.3,6], so that the landscapes are regaining beauty in the renewed form.Attempts of such actions are made in relation to the line 368.For several years, the concept of regeneration has been considered as a trail bike path, as in Lower Silesia in the Sowie Mountains [1].An alternative solution is to use the line for the needs of railway tourist crossings , but due to the technical condition, it is not currently possible over the entire route from Szamotuły to Miedzychód.To carry out restoration with maintaining appropriate technical conditions [7], as it is often done in case of the bridges [2] is an expensive process.Both approaches require significant financial investment.In addition, the proposal to create a tourist trail met with sharp objections from residents of neighboring Szamotuły.On the other hand, such bike paths in the region already exist, such as along the provincial road no.187 between Szamotuły and Oborniki Wlkp., which combines a number of villages.In this case, a tourist walking-cycling route can be connected to the area tn the lake in Orliczko by the units of flyovers in Nojewo, with the tunnel-valley lake situated on the south, nearby the town of Białokosz.Revitalization of the bridges in the form of parks, as was done with the facility in New York [4] probably would not be attractive, but the use of the pillars, as artificial climbing walls could attract tourists who enjoy an active holiday.Additionally, undulating surrounding area is ideal for the creation of a rope park with recreational small architectural elements.Changing the current function of these objects should not deprive them of their own history.On the contrary, it can be an opportunity to place tables of historical and technical information, as it often happens in the world [5].

CONCLUSION
In the vicinity of the village of Nojewo, there are four bridges, whereas over the railway line No. 368 Szamotuły -Międzychód, for a length of over 57 km, there are approx.50 of them.The lack of any action leads to progressive degradation and consequently contributes to the higher cost of any possible management of infrastructure in the future.Today, no one builds a brick arched bridges.One should think about whether they, eventually technical engineering work of our ancestors, are to be forgotten

Fig. 1 .
Fig. 1.Orientational plan of the location of these bridges Inside the village, railway route runs almost parallel to the provincial road No. 116, which, on the northern tip of Nojewo forks off to an easter direction, and further leads to Wronki.

Fig. 2 .
Fig. 2. General view of the bridge structure A

Rys. 3 .Fig. 4 .
Fig. 4. Side view and a cross-sectional view of the viaduct B

Fig. 4 .
Fig. 4. General view of the bridge C

Fig. 5 .
Fig. 5. General view of the bridge D